CASE COSTLY ACQUISITION (2d6 SAN)

August 24, 2010 12:02 PM

I recently bought the Laundry series by Charles Stross and thanks to that and Artw's constant efforts to encourage the stars to come right I'm really jonesing for some Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green action. It's been a loooong time since I've had any chance or time for roleplaying and I'm so far out of the loop I'm in non-euclidean space...

I'm looking to find either hardcopy or digital copies of the original books and expansions and somewhere to find likeminded geeks with a desire to play them. I've looked in the more obvious bookstores online but the prices I've seen beggar belief. I'm not a rich man by any means and paying £30-70 (and up!) for realtree books causes me to develop a nervous twitch.

Since it's been a long time I have literally no idea how to get some folks together (either IRL or online) or where to even start looking. I have tried the "just f*cking google it" but either I am a total spaz or the Outer Gods are working to hinder me.

posted by longbaugh to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (14 answers total)

I don't know, either, but if you get an online group together I'd imagine there'd be more than a few Metafilter members who might be interested in playing. And by "more than a few," I mean "me, and possibly others."
posted by infinitywaltz at 12:04 PM on August 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Not sure what your attitude is toward torrents, but many editions of the original CoC AND Delta Green supplements are available out there in PDF format.
Oh, and should folks decide to get together and play online, either PBP or PBeM, I'd be all over it.
Love that game to Reese's Pieces.
posted by willmize at 12:50 PM on August 24, 2010

I'm halfway through the third book myself (about to go back to it now, in fact) and I too have been thinking about how much I miss playing Call of Cthulhu. I've never played proper RPGs online but might be willing to give it a go, timezones permitting.

I've now realised I last played it just over twenty years ago. Ftagn.
posted by BinaryApe at 1:49 PM on August 24, 2010

I borrowed mine from a freind, then bought copies over eBay, as it was out of print at the time. That's probaby not that much help to you, as it's still pretty pricey and you really have to hunt it down. Also you're in the Uk and I;m guessing most sellers of it are going to be in the US.

If yiou buy the latest suplement directly from them you get the PDF thrown in, but you;re still buying the hardback, which is a fair whack and then postage.

For the original sourcebook Amazon is charging silly prices. It used to be you could get it from Arkham Bazaar, but it's out of stock there - I'm thinking it may be out of print for the moment.

I'm going to go ahead and ask on the Delta Green list, see if they have any good suggestions.
posted by Artw at 2:01 PM on August 24, 2010

Best answer: This looks like an okayish eBay price, and they have a couple in stock... It's still going to be around 30 quid though, assuming they'll ship to the UK for that postage price.
posted by Artw at 2:54 PM on August 24, 2010

Best answer: £34.99 from Innsmouth House.
posted by Artw at 3:15 PM on August 24, 2010

Best answer: Looks like there are no official PDfs, bar the one you get with the limited edition.
posted by Artw at 3:38 PM on August 24, 2010

Hi! I'd like to play this and I know _no-one_ who'd play it with me.

I found a free scenario online but I can't vouch for it's quality and I didn't read it so as to not spoil it...

Delta Green: PX Poker Night - Thrilling "night at the opera" scenario

Seriously, if someone wants to form a group to play this online, MeMail me.
posted by codswallop at 5:36 PM on August 24, 2010

Add me to the memail list for an online game, too.
posted by Marty Marx at 8:15 PM on August 24, 2010

Response by poster: I have found some *ahem* "digital backups" of the main Delta Green sourcebook and the Countdown expansion and I've also located a fair amount of other random CoC stuff. I was also looking at the WWII era expansion for the game which looks interesting, particularly as I've got the full GURPS WWII line (featuing Ken Hite's Weird War II) and a metric ton of other weird SOE stuff.

I have never run or been a part of a roleplaying game online or via email and have been lucky enough to have real people turn up in the flesh in the past so I've no idea where to even start with that. If I am to do this I am going to need a bunch of help - it's about 15 years since I've GM'd anything and I've only ever played in two CoC scenarios, neither of which were DG/modern era.

I was thinking of running something circa 1942 with lots of weird stuff thrown in and blatently stolen from influenced by various sources. That gives me the option of setting the game in virtually any theatre of war from jungle, desert mainland Europe and even to the secret Nazi weather base in the Arctic (it's true! they were trying to bring about Der Fimbulvetr!)

I quite like the idea of Detachment 23 from Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon" with added occult elements and am also possibly veering towards Grant Morrison's "Zenith" with proto-superhumans (think Captain America vs. Der Schwarze Totenkopf*).


*Yeah, my German sucks and the Black Skull I reference is from Hellboy nitpickers...
posted by longbaugh at 5:04 AM on August 25, 2010

Response by poster: Also - I totally googled Der Schwarze Totenkopf and found some really cute German slip-on pirate shoes for kids. Altogether now, yyyyaarrrrhhhhhhh....
posted by longbaugh at 5:06 AM on August 25, 2010

Response by poster: Righto - I'm going to send some memail to the folks stating interest. Also - if anyone has ever run an online/PBEM RPG please let me know as I will be working in the dark otherwise.

Nothing I've suggested above is set in stone and I'm open to suggestions as to period/setting etc. I've a fairly decent knowledge of most related subjects and eras (though WWII is a particular area in which I shine) but I'll be happy to take anyone's input as well. I'd be open to a Vietnam-era Delta Green as well, particularly covering "the incident" in Cambodia ~'69. I have a good knowledge of SOG and related stuff and I understand Hans Christian Vortisch (of The Black Seal) has done some excellent work relating to Navy SEALS in that era for GURPS.

I am in the UK but work bizarre shifts so I'm not sure how that'll affect anything and also, I promise nothing for at least a month as I'll be reading a metric crapload of reference material and generally "writing shit up".
posted by longbaugh at 8:30 AM on August 25, 2010

Of highly related interest, The Laundry RPG has arrived (of course, it's already almost £30 and it's not even out-of-print yet.)
posted by Zed at 11:15 AM on December 9, 2010

For anyone still looking, the Delta Green core rulebook is on ebay and the last couple of copies auctioned there have sold for under $40 (expensive, but less than the original cover price.) Delta Green: Countdown, now that's the impossible one.
posted by Zed at 2:22 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]